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[s] & [ʃ] are in complementary distribution within Japanese as I already know, but I don't speak Japanese and I'm finding it difficult to give examples how they are in distribution, are there any examples which could work?

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  • Welcome to Linguistics SE. While this is definitely a linguistics-related question, because you're asking specifically for Japanese you might get a better response over on Japanese Language & Culture. Although language-specific questions are allowed here sometimes, we generally try to avoid them.
    – acattle
    Nov 14, 2013 at 0:55
  • Incidentally, I study Korean, not Japanese, but I believe they both treat [s] and [ʃ] the same way. Specifically, [s] -> [ʃ] / __[i]. Compare the Japanese for "three", [san], with the Japanese for "four", [ʃi]. I believe [si] and [ʃan] are both unattested in Japanese (this is the case for Korean). Additionally, in Korean the same change is triggered by the approximate [j]. I'd suggest having a Japanese speaker confirm if this is the case in Japanese too.
    – acattle
    Nov 14, 2013 at 0:58
  • Assuming that by [ʃ], you mean [ɕ], the unvoiced alveolopalatal sibilant, [ɕ] and [s] are not in complementary distribution. One minimal pair is [ɕaiɴ] "company employee" and [ɕaiɴ] "signature".
    – dainichi
    Nov 14, 2013 at 6:17
  • This was all really helpful, thanks! Also sorry for the wrong area, I should have oriented my question to phonetics more than Japanese. Thanks again!
    – Dominic
    Nov 14, 2013 at 12:45
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    @dainichi, I'm sure this is obvious to most people, but you meant [saiɴ] for "signature", of course... Nov 14, 2013 at 14:28

1 Answer 1

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As has been noted in the comments, [s] and [ɕ] (sometimes broadly transcribed as [ʃ]) are not in complementary distribution in Japanese. However, they can be analyzed as allophones of the same phoneme.

The following rule can be used to explain some of the facts:

/s/ --> [ɕ] before [i], [s] elsewhere

[asa] 'morning'
[ɕi] 'four'
[aɕi] 'foot'
[isu] 'chair'
[seki] 'cough'
[heso] 'belly button'

However, [ɕ] also appears before other vowels besides [i]:

[iɕa] 'doctor'
[hoɴɕuː] 'Honshu'
[ɕoːyu] 'soy sauce'

This leads to an analysis in which it is sensible to treat /ɕ/ as its own phoneme.

Not counting the less nativized loanword pronunciations of words (like [siː] for the English letter 'C'), we never get [s] before [i]. Related forms like [osu] 'press-PRESENT' and [oɕita] 'press-PAST' give us further evidence that at least some instances of [ɕ] before [i] are likely surface realizations of /s/.

So, one analysis that captures all of the facts is that there are two phonemes--/s/, which has the allophones [s] and [ɕ], and /ɕ/, which always surfaces as [ɕ].

EDIT: In response to comments below, here is an alternative analysis that can also capture the facts:

We observe that palatalized versions of consonants may appear before [a], [o], and [u]:

[kʲoku] 'piece of music'
[nʲuːiɴ] 'hospitalization'
[ɾʲoːhoː] 'both'
[hʲaku] 'one hundred'
[happʲaku] 'eight hundred'
[sambʲaku] 'three hundred'
[bimʲoː] 'subtle'

(The choice of transcription of these Cʲ onsets varies; some choose to use [ç] instead of [hʲ], for example.)

There are some gaps--the alveolar stops ([t], [d]), alveolar fricatives ([s], and [z]), and the bilabial approximant [w] do not have palatalized counterparts. The [w] gap is not an unexpected one, since [w] is the only approximant (besides [j] itself). Historically, the palatalized counterparts of [t], [d], [s], and [z] became what are now the alveolo-palatal consonants [tɕ], [dʑ], [ɕ], and [ʑ], respectively. Further, these alveolo-palatal consonants do not have palatalized counterparts (there is no [ɕ]/[ɕʲ] contrast, for example).

Due to the above facts, some consider it reasonable to adopt a synchronic analysis in which all surface occurrences of [tɕ] and [dʑ] are underlyingly /tʲ/ and /dʲ/, respectively, and all surface occurrences of [ɕ] and [ʑ] are underlyingly /sʲ/ and /tʲ/ (or even /sj/ and /tj/), respectively.

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  • As far as I know, [ɕ] other than before [i] is restricted to loanwords (including ongaku readings of Chinese morphemes, some of which have been in Japanese for a very long time). Certainly all three examples above are ongaku.
    – Colin Fine
    Nov 14, 2013 at 19:19
  • [muʃi] [ase] [miso] [toʃi] [muʃi] - I've been given these examples and thus far the only thing I can think to explain is that [ʃ] occurs before closed front & central vowels. It might be that I have been explicitly told that they are in complementary distribution, but this isn't clicking in my head.
    – Dominic
    Nov 14, 2013 at 20:16
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    @ColinFine that would make sense, but some would shrug that off as a historical accident that is irrelevant for synchronic analyses. Nov 14, 2013 at 21:14
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    @Sjiveru actually, the occurrence of [ɕ] before non-[i] vowels does derive historically from /s/+/j/. One could adopt such an analysis to explain the data synchronically, but it is unclear how one would justify the existence of an underlying /j/ that never surfaces. Nov 14, 2013 at 21:19
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    Further supporting this is that if you treat [ɕ] as [ɕj], then there are no exceptions at all to "/s/ becomes [ɕ] before palatals." Japanese natives also have terrible trouble pronouncing [sj] and [si] without palatalizing the [s].
    – ithisa
    Nov 16, 2013 at 3:09

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